Igniting mechanism for internal-combustion engines.



A. L. MUELLER.

IGNITING MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12, 1911.

Patented Aug. 5, 1913.

[/VVE/VTOR W1 TNESSES ALBERT if. MoEfJ'LER, OF MIsHIco'r, Wisconsin.

IGNI'TING MECHANISM FOR InTnRivAL-coniausfion enemas.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Aug. 5,1913.

Application filed April 12, 1911. "serial N o. 620,667.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I,AL'BERT L. MOELLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mishicot, in the county of h/Ianitowoc and State ofWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in IgnitingMechanism for Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to an electrical ignition system forinternal com-bustion engines.

An important object of the invention is to provide means of the abovementioned character, which may be adjusted to produce an "early or latespark.

A further object of the invention is to provide an electrical ignitionsystem which possesses great simplicity of construction, is cheap toinstall, and is reliabl'e in operation.

For a full understanding fofth'e present invention, reference is to behad to the following description and the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a perspective View of the cylinder of an explosive engine,showing my invention applied thereto, the Wiring being omitted; Fig. 2is an end view of the same, the circuit being shown; Fig. 3 is a detailsection through the contact plate and the rotatable element to which itis attached; Fig. 1 is a detail section'showing the manner in which thecontact blade or spring is adjustably mounted upon its supporting rod;and Fig. 5 is a detail section through the head of the cylinder of theengine, show ing in elevation a plug member and associated elements ofthe circuit.

Throughout the following detail description, and on the several figuresof the drawings, similar parts are referred to by like referencecharacters.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates thecylinder of an explosive engine of the horizontal type.

The numeral 2 designates a centrifugal governor of any well known orpreferred type, and used for the ordinary purpose well known in the art.This governor receives its rotation from a horizontal rotatable shaft 3,through the medium of bevel gears 4 and 5.

The numeral 6 designates a pivoted lever, which serves to operate theexhaust valve (not shown) as is customary in this hori- Zontal type ofengine. The pivoted lever 6 i is provided with an opening 7 for adjustably receiving a supporting rod 8, which is clamped in adjustment atdifferent positions by a bolt '9. The rod 8 is provided at one free endwith an opening 10 for receiving a bolt 11, which passes through anopening in a contact blade or spring 12. The bolt 11 carries a clampingnut 13, by the manipulation of which theblade or spring 12 may bemanually shifted or swung and subsequently locked in a desired position.The contact blade or spring 12 is insulated from the rod '8 and bolt 11,'asshown.

A sleeve 14 is mounted on the free end of the shaft 3 to be rotatedthereby, said sleeve having a contact plate 15 rigidly connectedtherewith and insulated therefrom, as shown. A bolt 16 is attached tothe contact plate15 at its center, and carries a freely swivel'ed sleeve17, for a purpose hereinafte'r described. The contact plate 15 extendsat one end beyond the periphery of the sleeve 14 and has its endprovided with fingers or terminals 18 and 19, which are bent in oppositedirections to occupy dilfereht planes, one in advance of the other. Itwill thus be seen that the finger, or terminal 18 (assuming the shaft 3to be rotating in the direction of the arrow) will contact with blade 12to produce an early spark, before terminal 19 could so contact toproduce a late spark, if the blade 12 was in the proper position to beengaged by both fingers or terminal's. The terminals 18 and 19 may besuitably spaced apart, depending upon the change in time that it isdesired to effect between the sparks. It is obvious that the presentconstruction only provides for two differently timed sparks, but anysuitable number of the same may be obtained by increasing the number ofterminals or contact fingers, each of which would, of course, bedisposed in a different vertical plane.

The numeral 20 designates a plug member disposed in an opening formed inthe head of the cylinder 1, the same being held therein by a clampingring 21. This plug member is insulated from the head of the cylinder andthe clamping ring 21, as shown. The plug member 20 has binding posts 22and 23 connected therewith. The plug member 20 has a central opening forreceiving a spark plug 24:, including the ordinary outer and innerinsulated elements carrying the sparking points. The outer sparkingpoint thus has electrical connection with the plug member 20, while theinner sparking point is electrically connected with a binding post 25.

It is to be understood that the motion of the rod 8, owing to themovement of the lever 6, will not interfere with the contact of thespring member 12 with the terminals 18 or 19 at the proper time, themovement of the lever 6 being such that the spring member 12 reaches theapproximate position shown in Fig. 4 when the plate 15 in its path ofrotation makes contact through its terminals 18 or 19, as the case maybe, with said spring member.

The operation of the system is as follows: lVhen it is desired to obtainan early spark, the contact blade or spring 12 is manually swung so asto assume a position in the path of travel only of the finger orterminal 18. When this finger 18 engages the free end of the'blade orspring 12, the primary circuit is closed. The coil 28 is of ordinaryconstruction having primary and secondary windings. The low tension orprimary circuit is through the wire 27, the primary winding in the coil28, wires 29 and 31, the engine or plug member 20, and back to thesource of current 26, through wire 27. This circuit induces a current inthe high tension circuit which passes through the wires 29 and 31, theplug member 20, jumping to the spark plug 2 1 and back to the coil 28through the wire 34. It is obvious that by shifting the blade or spring12 so that it will engage only the finger 19, a late spark will beobtained.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is: r

1. The combination with an explosive engine including a cylinder androtatable ele ment, of spark producing means mounted Copies of thispatent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing Washington, D.6.

on the cylinder, a contact plate provided with fingers arranged one inadvance of the other and disposed in different vertical planes, acontact blade disposed near the rotatable element and adapted to beshifted to bring it in the path of travel of either of the fingers, anda circuit connected with the spring producing means, the contact plateand contact blade.

2. The combination with an explosive engine including a cylinder androtatable element, of a spark plug mounted on the cylinder, a contactplate mounted on the rotatable element and having contact fingersdisposed one in advance of the other in different vertical planes, asupport, a contact blade adjustably mounted on the support to be movedinto the path of travel of either contact finger, and circuitconnections between the spark plug, contact plate, and contact blade.

3. The combination with an explosive engine including a cylinder androtatable element, of spark producing means mounted on the cylinder, acontact plate mounted on the rotatable element and having one endprovided with spaced oppositely extending fingers arranged one inadvance of the other in different vertical planes, a support, a contactblade pivotally mounted on the support so that its free end may be swunginto the path of travel of either of the fingers, and circuitconnections between the spark producing means, contact plate, andcontact blade.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT L. MOELLER.

WVitnesses:

ED. M. GRnTz, E. R. ZE'MM.

the Commissioner of Patents.

